The prior art is generally cognizant of cheese having discrete zones exhibiting contrasting characteristics. For example, cheese has been made in which contiguous parts of the cheese have contrasting colors so that the cheese has a mottled or dappled appearance. Such cheese has achieved wide consumer acceptance. To make such cheese, cheese factories conventionally employ two cheesemaking vats. Milk is introduced into each vat and is acidified, generally by the introduction of a selected bacterial culture for the production of lactic acid. Then the contents of the two vats are treated in disparate manners. In the example of cheese having zones exhibiting contrasting colors, a cheese coloring agent may be added to one vat and not to the other. Thereafter a coagulum or curd is formed in both vats, usually through the addition of rennet. The curd is cut with curd knives in the conventional manner, and the curd pieces and whey of each vat are mixed and heated in order to drive whey out of the curd. The pieces of curd are subsequently washed with water, cooled, and salted before being put into cheese forms and pressed to their final shapes.
At some selected point after the initial formation of curd and before the pieces of washed curd are put into cheese forms, the pieces of curd from the two vats are mixed. It is thus necessary to shovel or otherwise physically transfer the contents of one vat into the other. This is a time-consuming, difficult, and costly step. In addition, care must be taken that the pieces of curd are not unduly crumbled while being shoveled or otherwise transferred from one vat into another.
Thus, the conventional mixing of contrasting pieces of curd in order to produce cheese having discrete zones involves unusual expenditures. Labor not otherwise needed in cheesemaking must be expended to transfer the curd from one vat into another. Furthermore, at least two vats are required to be used by the conventional method, further limiting availability of the method.